Lucy Gibson

As an Art Psychotherapist I have been encouraged to consider dynamic relationships in the therapeutic setting and within wider society. This has widened my source of available materials and I now see everyday life as artistic material. My practice has involved paying attention to the world around me, experiencing everyday life through the eyes, ears, hands of an artist (Hyland-Moon 2001). Seeing artistic possibilities in bodily expression and use of language has informed my work, both in my art making and in my therapeutic practice. One client was suffering from vascular dementia. She mostly did not wish to use the art materials; I was able to see her non-engagement as self-expressive and our work together as a ‘performance’. I have found performance art an expressive way to explore the context in which we work as art therapists.

Scapegoat (2015)

​The scapegoat phenomena often presents in my work with families in an in-patient addiction rehabilitation clinic, where one family member may hold the projections of blame, guilt and shame of the rest of the family. This piece is an exploration of the role and identity the scapegoat may experience within the therapeutic relationship, interpersonal relationships, family and group dynamics and within wider society. In this video (Still 2015) I wear a hand moulded mask of my own face and white suit representing a ‘blank canvas’ onto which one (the viewer) may project feelings onto or into. I become the object of scapegoat transference holding unconscious disowned or split-off aspects of the psyche.